Birch Gold Group vs Noble Gold Investments: Fees, Minimums, Custodians

This page sets out what Birch Gold Group and Noble Gold Investments say on their own websites, and what public records and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) show about each. It is a fact comparison. It does not rank the companies, score them or tell you which to use. It follows our research methodology.

New to the terms? Read our guide to the custodian, dealer and depository. The custodian holds your IRA on paper, the dealer sells the metal, and the depository is the vault. A spread is the gap between a dealer's selling price and its buyback price.

Dates matter. Company facts below were read from each company's own pages on 2026-10-18. Some items were carried forward from our 2026-10-15 check and are labeled that way. Companies change fees, minimums and wording without notice, so confirm every figure in writing. Everything companies say about themselves is written as their claim. Where a company's own pages disagree with each other, we show both versions.

How do the two companies compare at a glance?

This table lists the same fields for both companies. "Not stated" means we did not find the item on the pages we read, not that no such term exists.

What do they say about minimums?

According to Birch's website, the minimum investment is $5,000. The FAQ says Birch "currently requires a minimum investment of $5,000" and that the amount can change with market conditions and product availability. The Gold IRA page uses softer words ("We find that a minimum of $5,000 is needed to really get started"), and the Precious Metals IRA page says "We recommend you start with a minimum of $5,000 in a retirement account."

According to Noble's website, "Our Gold IRA minimum investment is $20,000," and its Silver IRA page gives the same figure. The Gold IRA page lists $10,000 as the minimum for a cash purchase with home delivery and offers a free consultation "with no minimum required."

What fees do they publish?

IRA fees usually come in layers: setup, yearly custodian, yearly storage, and smaller charges for wires or closing. Some are charged by the custodian or depository rather than the dealer. Compare each fee by name and who charges it.

Birch's FAQ describes $235 as a typical average, but its Precious Metals IRA page says "no matter how large your account, you will pay the same $235 annual fee." Noble's Gold IRA page says "Noble Gold is the only custodian offering a flat-fee structure." These are the companies' own claims. Fees can be set by a third-party custodian or depository, so ask for the custodian's own schedule. Sources: the Birch fee article, FAQ and IRA pages, and Noble's Support and What Is a Gold IRA? pages.

Who is the custodian, and where is the metal stored?

Birch. According to Birch's FAQ, its custodians are "typically Equity Trust Company or GoldStar Trust Company." Its custodian article says you are "welcome to work with any approved custodian." Its Gold IRA page refers to custodians without naming them. The Gold IRA and Precious Metals IRA pages list five depositories: Delaware Depository, Brink's Global Services, International Depository Services, Texas Precious Metals Depository and Texas Bullion Depository. Birch's storage page gives insurance statements for some of them (for example, a "$1 billion coverage" figure for Delaware Depository and a "$100,000 transit insurance per package"), but no storage fee amount for any depository.

Noble. The Gold IRA and Silver IRA pages say "a trusted precious metals IRA custodian" without a name. The Support page names different custodians in different answers: Equity Institutional (Gold IRA online access), New Direction IRA Services (Silver IRA online access) and Equity Trust IRA (moving funds). Noble's Support page says it has partnered with International Depository Services (IDS) and that assets there are "insured through an all-risk policy underwritten by Lloyd's of London." Its Home Delivery page lists IDS locations in New Castle, Delaware, and Dallas, Texas. Its Texas storage page gives no fee, insurance or audit statement.

What the custodians' own pages show. Equity Trust's precious metals client page lists five depositories and does not mention either company. GoldStar's page lists four, including Texas Precious Metals Depository, and says "The dealer you buy precious metals from usually determines which depository will be used." New Direction's website says physical custody is provided by First Trust Company of Onaga, in Kansas.

What do they say about spreads, markups and buyback?

Neither company publishes a spread, a premium percentage or a buyback price on the pages we read. As the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) puts it in its customer advisory, "A dealer will always sell metal above the spot price and buy it back below the spot price." The same advisory suggests asking "how much you would receive if you had to sell back the metal tomorrow".

Sources: Birch FAQ, fee article and Risk Disclosure; Noble Support, Gold IRA and terms. Birch's Risk Disclosure limits refunds to counterfeit coins returned in original holders within ninety days of purchase.

What do their website terms say about disputes?

According to Birch's terms, disputes are decided "exclusively by final and binding arbitration, before a single neutral arbitrator" in Des Moines, Iowa, under the rules of JAMS, a private arbitration provider. Disputes are decided "on an individual basis," not as a class, and the terms say Iowa law governs. The intro says the terms govern use of the website, but the arbitration sections refer to "any transaction, communication or interaction" with Birch.

On Noble's terms and conditions page, we found no arbitration clause, class waiver, governing-law or venue clause, or return policy. Documents you sign when buying may contain terms we did not see. Ask each company for every document before you fund anything.

What does the BBB show?

BBB's profiles show the figures below, per screenshots viewed by the site owner on 2026-10-15. bbb.org blocks automated access.

Sources: BBB profile for Birch Gold Group and the BBB profile for Noble Gold Investments (screenshots, 2026-10-15).

Read these numbers carefully. The customer review score is an average of BBB reviews, not BBB's letter rating. Complaint counts are not comparable between firms of different size and sales volume. BBB itself notes that the nature of complaints and responses can matter more than the number, and that it does not verify third-party information.

Complaints are consumers' allegations, and company replies are the company's statements. No judgment or order was shown on either profile. For Birch, we read only the first complaint in detail (filed 02/12/2026): a consumer alleged that premiums on IRA coins were far above standard bullion premiums and the buyback value far lower. Birch replied on 02/23/2026, disputing this. For Noble, the three complaints alleged concerns about silver purity (02/16/2026, marked resolved), high undisclosed fees and commission on purchase and buyback (07/23/2025, which Noble disputed and said it considered resolved), and a tax statement (12/08/2023, which Noble said it could not match to any communication). None of this is established fact.

What do public records show?

On 2026-10-15 we ran the same checks for both firms.

A missing record is not proof that nothing exists. A name search can miss records, and an absence from the IRS list is not a legal conclusion about a custodian. Our regulatory actions page explains how we treat allegations, settlements and orders.

Where do each company's own pages disagree?

These are the differences within each company's own materials that we saw on 2026-10-18.

Birch Gold Group

• Founding: the home page body says "since 2011" and "40,000+"; the page's metadata says "Since 2003" and "30K." The Birch Difference page says "Since 2011" and also "nearly two decades."
• Annual fee total: "typically average around $235" (FAQ) versus "you will pay the same $235 annual fee" (Precious Metals IRA page).
• First-year fee waiver: worded as "accounts over $50,000," "new accounts of more than $50,000," "new accounts of over $50,000" and "transfers over $50,000," depending on the page.
• BBB accreditation: its reviews page says "BBB accredited since November 14, 2011"; BBB's profile shows 7/21/2013.

Noble Gold Investments

• Fees: $50 setup / $125 maintenance / $160 storage on the IRA pages, versus $80 setup / $275 flat annual on Support and "What Is a Gold IRA."
• Custodian: Equity Institutional, New Direction IRA Services and Equity Trust IRA are each named on the Support page.
• Depository: Support names IDS; "What Is a Gold IRA" says "our secure Texas depository" without a third-party name.
• Company age: home page says "More than 20 Years"; the Who We Are page says "more than a decade" and gives no founding year; BBB shows a business start date of 5/13/2016.
• Reviews: home page says "265+ Reviews on Better Business Bureau"; BBB's profile screenshots show 241. We do not reconcile this.
• Role: the Gold IRA page says "Noble Gold is the only custodian offering a flat-fee structure" and also says it will "connect you with a trusted precious metals IRA custodian."
• Legal name: the footer text names Golden Bull, LLC dba Noble Gold Investments on some pages and NOBLE GOLD, INC. on others.

Both companies make self-praise claims (for example Noble's "America's most trusted precious metals partner" and "top-rated"; Birch's "highly-rated") that we do not repeat as fact, as we could not verify them.

What differs and what does not?

• Minimum: Birch states $5,000. Noble states $20,000 for IRAs.
• Setup fee: Birch states $50. Noble states $50 on some pages and $80 on others.
• Annual and storage fees: Birch states $125 plus $110. Noble states $125 plus $160, or $275 flat including $150 storage.
• Dispute terms: Birch's website terms include arbitration, a class waiver and Iowa law. We found none of these on Noble's terms page.

What did we not check?

• We did not open the Equity Trust or GoldStar fee schedule PDFs on 2026-10-18, so we state no custodian dollar figures here.
• We did not open bbb.org, Trustpilot, the CFPB database, BrokerCheck or the IRS list on 2026-10-18.
• We did not request contracts, account applications or fee schedules from either company, and we did not speak with any customer.
• We did not check SEC EDGAR, NFA BASIC, CourtListener, PACER, state courts or state regulators.

What questions should you ask each company?

These are questions to put in writing. They are not advice about which company to use.

For Birch Gold Group

1. Which custodian and which depository would hold my account, and what is that custodian's current written fee schedule?
2. Is the total annual fee a flat $235 or an average, and what storage fee applies to my metals?
3. What exact wording and time limits apply to the first-year fee waiver for accounts over $50,000?
4. What is the premium over spot on each product I would buy, in dollars and as a percentage?
5. What would you pay to buy the same item back today, and what terms, fees and time frame apply to a buyback?
6. Do the arbitration, class waiver and Iowa law terms apply to my purchase of metals, and where can I read them?
7. How are your specialists paid?

For Noble Gold Investments

1. Is the setup fee $50 or $80, and is the annual cost $125 plus storage or a flat $275?
2. Which custodian will hold my account: Equity Institutional, New Direction IRA Services or Equity Trust IRA?
3. Which depository will hold my metals, is the storage segregated, and what insurance applies?
4. What is the markup or premium over spot on each product, in dollars and as a percentage, and what is the commission?
5. What are the written terms of your buyback program, including price basis, fees and time frame?
6. Which legal entity am I contracting with: Golden Bull, LLC or Noble Gold, Inc.?
7. Which documents do I sign, and do they contain dispute or arbitration terms?

See also American Hartford Gold vs Noble Gold Investments and each company's full review: Birch Gold Group review and Noble Gold Investments review.

How was this page researched?

On 2026-10-18 we re-opened the pages of both companies listed in the sources, plus the Equity Trust and GoldStar client pages, New Direction's website and the Delaware Depository home page. Page text was read through a text extraction tool, so quoted wording should be checked on the live page. BBB figures come from owner screenshots on 2026-10-15. Public-record checks, the IRS list and the CFTC advisory were carried from our 2026-10-15 check. Fees, minimums and terms change, so confirm each answer in writing.